U.S. containerized imports surged to 2,603,709 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August, according to Descartes Datamyne data. The monthly total was up 3.8% from July and 3.3% from August 2025, and was the third highest monthly import volume on record.
Only May 2022, with 2,622,465 TEUs and July 2025, with 2,621,910 TEUs, recorded higher monthly volumes.
August imports were also 21.5% higher than August 2019, before the pandemic. However, through the first eight months of 2026, cumulative imports were still 0.4% lower than during the same period in 2025. But that August jump did help narrow the year-to-date gap and reaffirmed the durability of late-summer import demand.
The rise was even more significant as U.S. imports fell from July to August in both 2024 and 2025. This year’s increase came as importers continue to navigate a more complex environment characterized by increased tariff exposures, disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, heightened security risks in the Red Sea and tighter Panama Canal transit capacity.
Gulf Coast, East ports regain share
The nation’s top 10 container gateways handled 84.6% of U.S. containerized imports in August. Combined they moved 80,661 TEUs more than in July, a month-on-month increase of 3.8%. Volumes increased at eight of the 10 gateways.
The biggest increase was in New York/Newark, up 24,122 TEUs, or 7.2%, from July. Savanna trailed with a 9.2% increase of 22,761 TEUs. The Long Beach added another 12,945 TEUs, or 2.8%.
Houston up 8,569 TEUs, a 4.7% increase. New York-New Jersey rose 8,548-TEU, an 18.1% increase. Charleston added 5,751 TEUs, Tacoma gained 4,829 TEUs and Norfolk was up 511 TEUs.
Oakland and Los Angeles were the only two top-10 gateways to show lower volumes. Oakland was down 5,628 TEUs, or 7.4%, while Los Angeles was down 1,748 TEUs, or 0.4%.
The distribution of these gains slightly reallocated the national port balance. East and Gulf Coast ports accounted for 40.7% of total U.S. imports in August, up from 39.8% in July. West Coast ports were 43.9 percent, down from 45 percent a month ago.
While a modest change, the shift was driven in large part by particularly strong performances from New York/Newark and Savanna.
Longer delays with import expansion
Higher throughput led to greater transit delays at all 10 major gateways.
Houston and Seattle saw the largest increases. Houston’s average delay increased from 4.3 to 5.8 days, Seattle’s from 6.1 to 7.6 days. So delays increased by 1.5 days at both ports .
Average delay in Savanna increased 1.3 days to 6.1 days. Other markets like Los Angeles, Norfolk, New York-New Jersey, Tacoma, Oakland, Charleston and Long Beach also added volume, but less dramatically.
Descartes defines port transit delay as the difference between the estimated arrival date that originally appears on a bill of lading and the date Descartes receives U.S. Customs and Border Protection-processed bill-of-lading data.
The widespread increase in delays is a reflection of the fact that operational pressure has increased as import volumes ramped up in the late-summer shipping period.
Gulf Coast volumes are still improving
Gulf Coast gateways handled 252,675 TEUs in August, a 4.2% increase over July.
The monthly total was 11.7% above the region’s rolling 12-month average of 226,120 TEUs and just 1.9% below the region’s 2026 high of 257,564 TEUs, set in May.
August was the second-highest monthly total for the Gulf Coast for the period covered in the report and continued the rebound that began in July.
The performance matters because importers are increasingly developing routing and contingency plans that include the East and Gulf Coasts gateways, helping grow the share of U.S. inbound container traffic the regions are handling.
China still leads, but its share is slipping a little
Imports from China amounted to 884,318 TEUs in August, up 1.3% from July and 1.7% from August 2025.
Still, China-origin imports were 13.5% short of the record 1,022,913 TEUs set in July 2024, despite the growth.
Chinese shipments accounted for 34 percent of all U.S. containerized imports in August, down from 34.8 percent in July. The fall in the share points to a faster pace of growth in imports from other sourcing markets during the month.
Plastics were the biggest product category from China, making up 14% of imports, followed by furniture and bedding at 13.3%.
Machinery and electrical machinery together accounted for 17.6% and toys and sporting goods for a further 9.9%. Apparel, made-up textiles and footwear together accounted for 10.7% of the volume of imports from China.
Several commodity categories originating from China rose sharply year-on-year. Articles of iron or steel soared 30.5%, glass and glassware jumped 29.1% and plastics gained 6.9%.
Machinery imports were down 9.8% from August 2025 and furniture and bedding fell 5%.
Sourcing gains extend beyond China
The increase in U.S. import activity was not driven by a single sourcing market.
The top 10 countries of origin combined added container volume to the U.S. by 61,735 TEU, or 3.5 percent, from July.
Vietnam saw the biggest month on month increase with 14,545 TEUs, or 5.2%. Thailand improved by 11,633 TEUs, or 10.4%, while Indonesia jumped by 11,198 TEUs, or 19.5%.
The country gained 11,188 TEUs over July. Germany rose by 5,195 TEUs, South Korea by 4,303 TEUs and Hong Kong by 2,222 TEUs. Italy and Taiwan also had smaller monthly gains.
India was the only one of the top 10 sourcing markets to see a decline, down 926 TEUs, or 0.8%.
The top 10 sourcing countries collectively contributed 41,482 TEUs, up 2.3% over August 2025.
China posted the biggest year-on-year growth, up 14,795 TEUs. Thailand was up 12,260 TEUs, Vietnam up 9,878 TEUs, Hong Kong up 8,493 TEUs, Indonesia up 5,375 TEUs, South Korea up 4,545 TEUs and Germany up 4,641 TEUs.
Those gains more than offset losses from India and Taiwan. India was down 16,034 TEUs, or 12.8%, and Taiwan was down 2,572 TEUs, or 4.5% Italy was much the same as it had been a year ago.
Tariffs, risk of global routing still on radar
Imports climbed in August amid continued build-up of supply-chain uncertainty.
Conditions in the Strait of Hormuz remained volatile into late August. Some carriers and cargo interests considered alternative land-bridge routings, temporary storage arrangements and special procedures for returning empty containers as booking suspensions and reduced operations in parts of the Upper Gulf created a need for these measures.
For US importers, the disruption means possible exposure to higher shipping costs, lower schedule reliability and disruptions to energy and industrial input supply chains tied to the Persian Gulf.
Another key element of landed costs is tariff policy. Duties of generally 10% to 12.5% but with varying rates, exemptions and caps depending on country and product are imposed on a broad swath of trading partners by the Section 301 tariffs issued July 24.
Existing Section 232 duties, as well as Section 301 actions on China, enhance the value of duty exposure assessment at the Harmonized System code level.
The Panama canal is another routing challenge. Transit capacity tightened in early September due to below-average precipitation in the watershed. The Panama Canal Authority cut daily Neopanamax availability to nine slots and Panamax availability to 25 slots from Sept. 3. Panamax capacity was to drop further to 23 slots on Sept. 15.
The tighter capacity could impact all-water Asia services to East and Gulf Coast ports, especially vessels without secured transit reservations, which could face longer wait times.
Security conditions in the Red Sea also remain elevated following renewed Houthi missile and drone attacks against Saudi energy and economic facilities near Jazan on the Red Sea coast. And meanwhile, the large carriers continue to push for a resumption of scheduled Suez Canal service rather than longer diversions around Africa.
Strong import market under pressure
U.S. import demand was resilient in August with a 2.60 million-TEU performance Policy, routing and operational risks remained a complex mix
The broad-based uplift across sourcing markets and the stronger performance of East and Gulf Coast gateways point to continued cargo flows, despite heightened port transit delays, tariff exposure and disruptions across key maritime corridors that bring uncertainty to the months ahead.
